Juan Rivera proves he's worth every penny to Angels

The Angels lost again to Texas on Tuesday night, but don't blame Juan Rivera.

The outfielder, who turned 31 last Friday, hit two more home runs against the Rangers, including his fourth in seven career at-bats against Texas closer Frank Francisco.

Rivera is hitting .317 with 16 home runs and 52 RBIs less than a week before the All-Star Game. He has a .357 on-base percentage, has slugged .519, and has an .896 OPS, in 305 plate apearances (284 at-bats).

Teams typically spend about $5 million per win on free agents, so that would mean Rivera is worth only about $1.25 million a year. If we use Bill James' more optimistic projection, it'd be about $2 million.

Well, he has outperformed it, already, for this season -- in my opinion. The $3.25 million of Arte Moreno money Rivera gets this season is some of the best money the Angels have ever spent. If he had been selected to the July 14 All-Star Game in St. Louis, he would not have looked out of place at all.

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